No. 1:Melo: It wasn’t about the money — Carmelo Anthony re-signed with the New York Knicks for five years and $124 million, a year and $28 million more than he could gotten from any other team. But, in speaking with ESPN on Friday, Anthony said that his decision wasn’t about the money and that he doesn’t think the Knicks are “that far away” from contending for a championship:

Carmelo Anthony said it was not the money, but instead his confidence in team president Phil Jackson and his belief that the New York Knicks “aren’t that far away from contending for an NBA title,” that made him opt to remain in New York instead of signing with the Chicago Bulls.

“I want to win. I don’t care about the money,” Anthony told ESPN.com. “I believe Phil will do what he has to do to take care of that.

In what were believed to be Anthony’s first public comments since agreeing to a five-year deal worth $124 million earlier this month, he told ESPN.com that the decision was so agonizing in the final days that he could not watch TV or go on the Internet.

“It was overwhelming,” Anthony said. “It was stressful in the final days, one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make.”

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No. 2:Noah excited about new-look Bulls — The Chicago Bulls added Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott this summer, and hope to have a healthy Derrick Rose back. But Joakim Noah is still their most important player when you take both ends of the floor into account. Noah spoke with reporters on Friday and is ready to get to work with the Bulls’ revamped roster, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes:

“I’m happy for LeBron James,” Noah said, a sly smile forming. “He gets to go home. People are happy over there. But I really hope that we can kick his ass as many times as possible.”

This NBA offseason indeed has seen James move from the Heat to his home-state Cavaliers. It has featured Noah prominently recruiting Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol in free agency and rehabbing a left knee that needed minor arthroscopic knee surgery at season’s end.

Noah said the knee feels “great.” His outlook for next season is the same.

“I’m really, really excited about the Bulls,” Noah said. “(General manager Gar Forman) and (executive vice-president John Paxson) and everybody did a really good job. It just makes you want to work hard and be as ready as possible for the season.”

Advisory search committee chairman Kevin Johnson lost a power struggle with the National Basketball Players Association executive committee and will be absent on Monday when a new executive director is elected in Las Vegas, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento and a former Phoenix Suns guard, had wanted to play a larger controlling role in the Monday meetings to present three finalists for the job, and executive committee members balked at the idea, citing U.S. Department of Labor regulations and NBPA bylaws, sources said.

Johnson sent an abrupt email to player agents on Friday evening, telling them his committee was “no longer involved in the search process,” and “while we’d hoped to help bring this to completion, it’s clear that won’t be possible.”

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No. 4:A longer All-Star break? — Some NBA players have approaced commissioner Adam Silver about a longer All-Star break, which isn’t much of a break for All-Stars. And it appears that Silver was listening. Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that a one-week break is part of the schedule planning, which should be done in the next couple of weeks:

The NBA is poised to turn the All-Star break into All-Star week this coming season, the Sun Sentinel has learned, providing teams with a full week off at midseason.

The move, which would give players seven days off between games in mid-February, would result in an increase of one or two back-to-back sets per team for the coming season, a party familiar with the process said.

“That’s the model they’re using right now while they’re filling in the schedule,” an NBA source familiar with the process told the Sun Sentinel Friday. “Could they go back and use some of those dates if needed? That’s possible. But the week off looks like what’s going to happen.”

23 Comments

Anthony could have helped more with the rebuilding by giving up some cash and letting the Knicks use it for a good player. But it was fully his right to stay with NY and hope for the best.

Wiggins plus James would be interesting in a few years but so is Love plus James. I really think so many non Cavs fans hate this ides because it just MIGHT put James in another finals with a chance to win it all. A bit better than this year’s Heat team anyway. Good enough to beat Spurs? Maybe not but Spurs will find it much tougher next year to get out of the West. And the East is at least interesting again with Bulls, Cavs, Heat and a few upstarts in the mix.

chicago?they cnt win title,pau much better to retire he’s just like an old stuff in the court. knicks? comm’n..melo is not a versatile player,one-stop shop player,recieved only a ball and then take a shot,no court play most of the time he’s selfish in the court wanted to be mvp.

if it wasnt bout the money, then he shld have done a nowitzki/dwade move which would have gave their team more salary cap to begin with… of course it was about the money and winning…. but with the current makeup of the team, it hasnt established its identity yet… esp on the D side

The diff is that nowitzki is older and on his last contract. And Wade’s knees are being held together by staples and paper clips.

By comparison, Melo is much younger than dirk, and is still in his prime, unlike dirk. Compared to wade, they are similar in age, but wade is clearly on the down and out, and like I said, melo is still in his prime.

I agree with you, just not your comparisons. Cuz it is literally impossible for a guy to sign a contract that “is not about the money” when that contract is paying him nearly 25 mill a year. If it wasn’t about the money, he woulda signed with CHI cuz while he thinks NY isn’t that far away from being a contender, CHI is for sure a contender right now.

Still holding my breath on the Wiggins for Love deal. Don’t want that to happen. The Cavs would be better off with the squad they have now, could still win a title within 2 season keeping Wiggins and letting him develop next to LeBron: http://straighthoops.com/whats_love_got_to_do_with_it.html